


Illumi Psychological Analysis

by Dionte



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Meta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 09:24:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18688675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dionte/pseuds/Dionte
Summary: In-depth look at personality, influences, and relationships.





	Illumi Psychological Analysis

**Author's Note:**

> Been a bit of interest in this, so uh, guess I'm posting it? I enjoy studying psychology and MBTI personality theory in my spare time, so occasionally I do this for characters. Bear in mind, this is my opinion, and I am not a professional. Take it with a grain of salt.

******Personality**

 

**ISTJ**

**Function Stack:** Si → Te → Fi → Ne

**Introverted Sensing (Si):** Illumi uses his experiences and observations to decide how to act and proceed. He was taught by his family, and follows their lessons and successes with his own. Illumi bases his opinions on how things have been in the past. He clings to what he perceives as important, namely the Zoldyck assassination business and his family. He can easily tell that something has changed based on his observations, such as Killua’s change during the hunter exam, and can name what changed him- the idea of friendship. He enjoys being a part of the family business, because it is all he has known, but it also connects him to the past. He also treats killing as just that- a job. It is routine and natural to him.

 

**Extroverted Thinking (Te):** Illumi is an extremely organized and logical person. He can recognize a problem, the reason for the problem, and takes action to solve it. During the Hunter Exam, Illumi seems to have knowledge of all the contestant's tags, something only Tonpa otherwise could boast. Hisoka mentions Illumi would be a good “manager,” likely because Illumi is smart, organized, and efficient. He is comfortable and effective even working under stress and in a limited amount of time. Illumi also has no problem controlling his impulses, and will set aside his emotions for his family’s greater good.

 

**Introverted Feeling (Fi):** Illumi has deeply ingrained beliefs that were trained into him by and revolve around his family. What he believes in, he is loyal to, no questions asked. He acts in the best interest of his family, though they- namely Killua, may disagree with him. His emotions are often out of sync with the situation, such as his light attitude towards his job and others, because it takes effort for him to truly understand others. When he does, it is due to them having similar values to his own- the ones he understands best are his family and Hisoka.

 

**Extroverted Intuition (Ne):** Illumi struggles to accept new ideas, especially ones that conflict with what he considers to be true. If something goes against his formed opinions, he will often consider it wrong without much more thought. However, Illumi does have good instincts and often trusts them, but again, this is more based on his experience than his intuition.

 

**Function Misbehavior:**

**Looping (Si-Fi):** I have seen others who chose this personality for Illumi, but also claimed he was looping during the Election Arc, which means he didn’t use his extroverted functions. When introverts fall into a loop, they withdraw from the world, and this type specifically would withdraw into their memories and emotions. In such a state, they do not act, and if they do, it would be volatile. I don’t believe he was in any way, shape, or form, looping during the show nor the manga.

 

**Grip (Ne):** There is a moment at the end of the Election arc in which his personality shifts. Basically, being “in the grip” is when the personality stack reverses- actions and decisions are under reign of the weakest, least mature function. At the end of the election arc, Illumi confronts Killua with the sole desire to make Alluka’s power his own. Furthermore, he believes that the power is worth robbing Killua and Alluka of their free will. This is not based on past experience nor pure logic, it is based on his own desire and intuition- his weaker functions. He appears to be out of the grip almost immediately afterwards, as he is back to normal for the Dark Continent arc.

 

* * *

 

**Influences**

 

**Birth Order (Firstborn/Only):** Due to age difference between Illumi and siblings, he shows traits of being both a firstborn and an only child. As an only child, he became extremely competent- a little adult- and somewhat self-centered. He is also very detail oriented. When he gained siblings, he likely- due to being older- became bossy and more of a perfectionist, and was favored by his parents until Killua was born. He’s tough on himself and on others, and considers himself to be correct because he is the oldest- he knows what his siblings need.

 

**Role (Hero/Caretaker):** Though the Zoldycks are somewhat portrayed as a normal family- or as normal as a family of powerful assassins can be- I have to consider them dysfunctional. In such a family, children choose different roles to cope with problems. Thus, I want to specifically mention the careers and roles of the children and how they may have been trained. Illumi, I believe was trained much like Killua. He was the first child, and likely supposed to be the heir, until something changed Kikyo and Silva’s mind. I assume at this point, they began training him almost more like a guard dog- a protector for the rest of the children, and especially the heir. His role would be the hero, with some elements of caretaker. Milluki, when he showed more aptitude for information gathering and less for assassinations proper, would have been trained to gather information, which is why when we see any torture scenes, Milluki is the one acting. I believe that his role was more the clown or mascot. Killua, of course, carries all the hopes and dreams as the heir, and I suspect Alluka and Kalluto were raised more to support him. Though Killua is supposed to be the hero of the family, he ends up the filling the role of the problem child. In Alluka’s case, she got too close and was too dangerous to the family and had to be removed from the equation, giving her the role of scapegoat- similar to the problem child, but much more passive. Kalluto was probably too young, and later Killua was too rebellious for their relationship to flourish. Kalluto, I believe, shows elements of the hero role, as well as the lost child.

 

As the hero, Illumi shows how prosperous and incredible the family is. He’s a successful assassin- in some drama cds of questionable canonicity, they mention Illumi is starting to overtake Silva for requests. He is effective, and the family knows they can rely on him for any request. Illumi would also have the blind belief that his family’s choices are correct. He would be the least likely to ever believe his family could possibly be wrong, and the most stubborn in believing that they are fine. Because of this and his role as caretaker, Illumi would prioritize his siblings over his own life, as he has been taught. Due to this blind devotion, he struggles to form relationships with others. As part of his strict upbringing and to answer his family’s expectations, Illumi is extremely strict on himself. This strictness may also affect others, in that Illumi tries to control them and is judgmental of their actions.

 

**Parenting (Authoritarian):** Based on his parents’ and grandparents’ actions, I assume Illumi was raised strictly. Because of this style of parenting, Illumi’s actions make further sense. This parenting style would make Illumi outwardly appear obedient to his family, easy to manage, and extremely polite. Illumi would have low self-esteem and worth- shown by his willingness to die for his family. He is well behaved around his family, but out of fear, though these have probably been so deeply internalized that he does not and would not recognize the truth of them.

 

This style of parenting also causes trust issues. Everything, even basic acts of kindness, have a price tag- whether the price is obedience or something else. Because of his family's teachings, Illumi likely doesn’t know his own desires, as he has been assigned a role to carry out and that he’d carry out religiously. Illumi would not have been allowed opinions or emotions, causing a very black and white view of the world. And because his emotions were quashed, Illumi would not understand the importance of positive ones. What he would consider important would be power and authority, as his parents have.

 

Illumi would also be more susceptible to authority. His family is in charge of him, and he would obey them without question. But outside of that, Illumi would consider others to be inferior to him. Thus, he would look down on them, and possibly treat them as his own parents controlled him.

 

* * *

 

**Relationships**

 

**Basics:** Let’s start off with a huge problem for any of Illumi’s relationships. Due to his role in the family, how he was parented, and his life in general, I believe that Illumi would struggle with the very concept of love. In his childhood, he would have “protected” himself from emotions- so as to not feel anger or rejection, to help himself to believe that his parents did indeed love him as they poisoned and tortured him. That it was for his own good. However, this may have caused him to confuse the emotions of love and hate. While most people can recognize there is a thin line between the two- one must care in order to truly hate, Illumi seems to consider the emotions to be the same. I base this on two sources. First, though it is non-canonical, the Nightmare of the Zoldyck musical shows Illumi being completely aware that Killua can get angry and hateful enough to attack and try to kill Illumi. Granted, this is based more in the 1999 version, meaning that a lot of later manga details are not present. However, in the Election arc, Illumi shows a similar conviction- he can burn himself into Killua’s mind by Alluka killing him. Illumi lives in death’s thrall- he is convinced that strong feelings, love or hate, would lead to his inevitable death.

 

**Killua:** Digging more into Illumi’s childhood psychological issues, one could assume that his care and treatment towards Killua may come from a place of resentment and the confusion of love and hate. He must follow his family’s orders to love Killua, but his own role in his family- the hero, was something hard earned. He may be stricter with Killua than his other siblings because of this and the favoritism his parents, butlers, and even younger siblings show towards Killua. While Milluki expresses open jealousy, Illumi’s would be stunted and hidden. Although Illumi is strict towards Killua, he does show a surprising amount of leniency- Illumi did not follow him home after the Hunter’s Exam, he did nothing while disguised as Hisoka and Killua was a captive during the Yorknew City arc, and once convinced Alluka’s power could be used safely, he left her and Killua alone until their mission was accomplished. Even afterwards, once sent away, he apparently does not search for them further.

 

**Milluki:** A relationship that goes mostly unmentioned in the show is Illumi’s relationship with Milluki. Milluki normally is found at the Zoldyck home, while Illumi is often off on missions. Milluki generally seems to be a neutral party for the family, mainly only looking after his own interests. It seems Milluki does have some respect for Illumi, and as the second oldest, probably watched the transition of Illumi being the best to his family’s current favoritism towards Killua. They seem to cooperate well, as Milluki believes Illumi would allow him to use the Hunter website with his license and he shares the hacked feed during the Chairman Election arc with Illumi.

 

**Kalluto:** If you pay attention to which family members pair together for missions, Illumi seems to have a closer relationship to Kalluto. He is willing to send Kalluto to distract the spiders, which implies a respect for Kalluto’s abilities and a trust that he would be willing to help. He appears to be less strict with Kalluto, likely due to him being the baby of the family, but also holding a similar role of obedience to the family. Though, because Kalluto is younger, he has taken a different course of action than Illumi did. I assume this is for the simple reason that he was _allowed_ to. It is also interesting in that Kalluto is prideful and secretive, while Illumi is actually more modest and honest, making him a good foil for working with Illumi. In the current arc, though Illumi and Kalluto are working together, there seems to be some tension between them. Whether this is simply personality friction or if they are working towards different goals remains to be seen.

 

**Hisoka:** The other character Illumi interacts with most in canon is Hisoka. Someone who confirmed his own feelings of relationships ending in blood, that relationships have a price, and even the confusion of hatred and love- though Hisoka confuses bloodlust and regular lust. Beyond this, Hisoka also holds the unique position of being one of the few people that Illumi appears to respect and understand. When considering the wording of Illumi’s relationship with Hisoka- give and take, it implies a huge amount of respect. In the Zoldyck relationship chart, Illumi has a similar relationship with his father, who in turn, has a similar relationship with Zeno. Illumi shows his feelings in actions as well- going against his own judgement because of Hisoka’s desire to keep Gon alive until he’s strong enough to fight and warning Hisoka about the worst case scenario of Alluka’s powers. It also bears mentioning that Illumi seems to abandon further pursuit of Killua after the election arc for _Hisoka’s_ request for him to join the spiders.

 

**Parents:** Due to Illumi’s limited interactions with his family in canon, I will be considering a number of their interactions from the drama cds and musical. Questionable canonicity, but the basis of their relationships is still worth considering. As mentioned with Hisoka, Illumi’s relationship with his father is described as give and take. For his mother, though she favors Killua as heir and Kalluto in general, she holds a high opinion of Illumi, and turns to him when struggling with Killua’s actions. This happens in both in canon, and again in the musical. In the drama cds, she appears to be one of the few who understands and respects his choices, as even Silva seems confused by some of them.

 

I believe many of Illumi’s actions, especially towards Killua, in the series are at least in part- if not in full- influenced by Silva and Kikyo. It’s implied in the 2011 anime that Silva may have ordered Illumi to put the needle in Killua, though Illumi seemed perfectly willing to do so. Based on Silva's conduct and Illumi's personality, I suspect Silva was the one to consider Alluka to not be a member of the family. When that information passed on to Illumi he simply accepted it as part of his reality. You could consider it to be part of Illumi’s honest nature. He believes what his family has told him to be the truth, and though they- especially Silva- hide their harsher side, Illumi is open about it. With Hisoka’s nen personality analysis, you could even see this- Illumi, and further, Kikyo are manipulators. Logical and argumentative, taking a direct path to a solution, while Silva- a transmuter- is prone to deceit.

 

**Others:** Though there are not any interactions fully in canon, I believe the relationship between Illumi and Tsubone- thus the rest of the butlers- is worth considering. Tsubone shows favoritism for the younger Zoldycks, impressed by Killua’s ability and acting kindly towards Alluka. She states that she never liked Milluki and Illumi due to their resemblance to their mother. I believe Illumi would have noticed this and shows that in his treatment of the butlers- considering them tools, disposable. This would also explain why he chooses to work with and seems to trust Hisoka over them.

**Author's Note:**

> I might- might- consider writing up an analysis on others if people are interested. These do take time and research though, and some characters come easier than others.


End file.
